Page 18 - Camp Project Final

Performance Theory
Anthropologist Erving Goffman wrote The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life in 1959. It became the basis for performance theory, the idea that all social actors are playing a role for their peers, or audience. Goffman argues that in everyday life, the audience must take performances seriously, otherwise, social relations will cease to function normally. He also distinguishes between performers that take themselves seriously, and what he terms “cynical performers.” Both kinds of performers will dramatize certain events and hide others depending on the audience. Sometimes,performances can feel fake, or unnerving to audiences. These are called “misrepresentations.”
“Camp is being-as-playing-a-role” - Sontag
Camp is about the cynical performers, the misrepresentations. It emphasizes exaggeration, theatricality, and artifice. Goffman writes of misrepresentations, “When we think of those who present a false front or ‘only’ a front, of those who dissemble, deceive, and defraud, we think of a discrepancy
between fostered appearances and reality. This discrepancy is the essence of Camp.
However, Sontag says that naive Camp, Camp as an accident, is always more rewarding and true than deliberate Camp, peoplegoing out of their way to perform Camp. The interseciton of Camp and performance theory is illustrated in the 2019 Met Gala to celebrate the exhibit. Celebrities had to dress in their Campiest looks.
This is by defintion a cynical performance, it is deliberate Camp. The celebrities that shined were the ones that already had Camp associated with them like Lady Gaga and Cardi B. Others tried too hard to be something they weren’t, or focused on being traditionally glamorous.
The Gala was an exercise in playing a role.
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